Marvel Studios has released a brand new Super Bowl spot for Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson. The film is the first-ever standalone for the titular character who made her debut back in 2010 in Iron Man 2.
Set between the events of Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, Black Widow centers on the master assassin now turned fugitive returning to Russia, where she is forced to reconcile with her family and put a stop to the Black Widow Assassin program that created her.
However, it won’t be easy, as she will face a new masked threat that is equal in strength and skill. There are a few theories as to who could be behind that masked. Many of them point to someone in her family like Natasha’s sister, Yelena (Florence Pugh); her father, Alexei Shostakov, aka The Red Guardian (David Harbour), and her mother, Melina (Rachel Weisz).
This mysterious villain, who is also known as Taskmaster in the comics, has his own particular set of skills and seems adept at hand-to-hand combat and using a shield. But we’ve also seen him use a bow and arrow. And considering that the film takes place after Captain America: Civil War, we know there are some Avengers who are equipped with a shield and another that is highly skilled. Care to take any guesses?
One other MCU character that is confirmed to be in the film is General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross (played by a de-aged William Hurt). It’s not clear what his role in the movie is, but based on the previous trailers we have seen, there is some sort of shadowy underhanded connection he may or may not have with her. And we can’t forget the obligatory cameos.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for Black Widow:
In Marvel Studios’ action-packed spy thriller “Black Widow,” Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
It should be interesting to see how Black Widow will fit into the MCU, considering it is about a character who is dead. What will happen in that film that will chart the course for the future of Phase Four of the MCU? We will have to wait and see.
Black Widow also stars Ray Winstone and O-T Fagbenle.
Directed by Cate Shorthand and produced by Kevin Feige, Black Widow will open in theaters on May 1, 2020.
